Windsor Park, Belfast hosted the first all-Irish world title fight, and Lewis Crocker took the vacant IBF welterweight title, dropping Paddy Donovan twice on the way to a split decision win.
Crocker (22-0, KO11) was awarded a disqualification win in their first meeting in March, as Donovan (14-2, KO11) was docked points twice for use of the head.
He was then thrown out for punching Crocker after the bell, after decking him earlier in the same round.
With Jaron Ennis vacating the world title to move up in weight, the sequel was arranged with the vacant belt up for grabs.
It was a cagey opening round, with both not committing much, and feeling one another out.
It was proving a quiet start, with Crocker shading round two as he caught Donovan coming in, but the fight sparked into life in round three, with a counter left hand from Crocker flooring Donovan for the first time in his career.
That woke Donovan up, and the fourth saw both have decent success with big shots, but it looked as though Donovan was closing the distance more and more, and he put his punches together well in the fifth, in control until the very end of the session, when Crocker uncorked a huge left hand that knocked Donovan down heavily.
He survived the count, and regrouped to get back to his boxing in the next four rounds, seemingly winning all of them with his work-rate and boxing skills.
Crocker remained dangerous with single shots on the counter, but Donovan remained busy, and put his punches together well in the championship rounds.
The final round saw more of Donovan landing with his southpaw jab and outboxing Crocker, and it looked like he’d made the necessary adjustments to win the fight as it came to a close.
The judges saw otherwise, with scores of 114-112 and 114-113 giving Crocker the win, against a score of 115-111 for Donovan.
Caomhin Agyarko vs Ishmael Davis
Caoimhin Agyarko (18-0, KO7) remained unbeaten, but was taken to the wire by Ishmael Davis (13-3, KO6) before leaving with the WBC Continental super welterweight title via split decision.
It was a close-run contest, and Davis looked to have done just enough to win, especially after scoring a final-round knockdown, which was more due to Agyarko being off balance, but the judges saw otherwise, as two scores of 114-113 saw Agyarko the winner, against a tally of 115-112 for Davis.
In another rematch on the bill, Tyrone McKenna (25-6-1, KO8) repeated his December 2024 win over Dylan Moran (19-4, KO9), as he wore Moran down for a stoppage win in seven rounds.
McKenna won their original meeting in two rounds, but this time had to break Moran’s heart, and after decking Moran in the seventh, a swift follow-up attack forced the conclusion.
Remaining undercard
The sole six-rounder saw the debut of Molly McCann (1-0, KO1) after a rollercoaster UFC stint, and ‘Meatball Molly’ stopped Kate Radomska (4-8, KO0) in the final round of their bantamweight clash.
Radomska was down in round five, and her corner threw the towel in a round later.
The Irish super bantamweight title changed hands, as Matthew Boreland (6-0, KO2) forced Ruadhan Farrell (7-2-1, KO2) to retire after six rounds of battle. Farrell was down in the same round.
Team GB’s Pat Brown (4-0, KO4) won early again, this time via second round stoppage against Austine Nnamdi (12-6, KO10).
The other eight-rounder came at middleweight, where Coventry’s Aaron Bowen (7-0, KO5) blasted out Argentina’s Carlos Miguel Ronner (7-6, KO2) in two rounds.
In four round affairs, Donagh Keary (3-1, KO0) was upset on points by Caine Singh (3-7-2, KO0) at super bantamweight, and first-timer Kyle Smith (1-0, KO0) was a points winner against Connor Meanwell (2-30-1, KO0) at super welterweight.
Jim Donovan (1-0, KO0) debuted with a points win against Lukasz Barabasz (4-18, KO2), who was down in round three of their middleweight contest.
